Thursday, June 28, 2012

Would Al Gore have won in 2000 if John Roberts was Chief Justice then?

John Roberts may have forgotten the oath of office when he administered it to Barack Obama; he remembered his oath when he decided this case. Indeed maybe it is possible that Al Gore would have been president if Roberts had been chief justice in 2000. Yes, I know that he was part of the Bush legal team in Florida, but that is not the point. Given his politics, I am certain that Roberts would not have voted to pass health reform. But he did vote to uphold it; he did what a judge is supposed to do—follow the law, not his own politics.

The chief justice made the difference while Anthony Kennedy, who many had hoped might, instead joined the Three Horsemen of the Rightwing Apocalypse on the Court. One can disagree with many of Roberts’ choices—for example, his vote in Citizens United, which opened the floodgates for special interest money in campaigns. But he has now assured that the Roberts Court will be seen and remembered as more than an ideological rubber stamp.

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John Roberts may have forgotten the oath of office when he administered it to Barack Obama; he remembered his oath when he decided this case. Indeed maybe it is possible that Al Gore would have been president if Roberts had been chief justice in 2000. Yes, I know that he was part of the Bush legal team in Florida, but that is not the point. Given his politics, I am certain that Roberts would not have voted to pass health reform. But he did vote to uphold it; he did what a judge is supposed to do—follow the law, not his own politics.

The chief justice made the difference while Anthony Kennedy, who many had hoped might, instead joined the Three Horsemen of the Rightwing Apocalypse on the Court. One can disagree with many of Roberts’ choices—for example, his vote in Citizens United, which opened the floodgates for special interest money in campaigns. But he has now assured that the Roberts Court will be seen and remembered as more than an ideological rubber stamp.